Demichelis: We'll fight to the end

14 April 2014 02:32

Manchester City defender Martin Demichelis has vowed to fight to the end in the Barclays Premier League title race.

City suffered a serious setback in their bid to reclaim the crown as they were beaten 3-2 at leaders Liverpool in a pulsating clash at Anfield on Sunday.

The result left City third, trailing the Reds by seven points and second-placed Chelsea by five.

But with two games in hand on the sides above them, City remain firmly in the picture and the battle looks likely to remain tight over the final month of the season.

Demichelis told City TV: "We will fight until the end. No-one left the stadium thinking they were champions.

"Obviously we are not happy about the result but we know we have still got matches ahead.

"We have seen in football that we can still win and they can make mistakes.

"Hopefully we will win the rest and there will be some mistakes from Liverpool."

City, who have six games remaining, famously clawed back an eight-point deficit in their final half-dozen matches to win the title in 2012.

They will resume their quest when they host bottom side Sunderland in the first of their games in hand on Wednesday.

Key midfielder Yaya Toure could be a doubt for that game after limping off after just 19 minutes at Anfield.

The Ivorian had injured his knee in taking a shot moments earlier and he was due to be assessed back in Manchester on Monday.

City already trailed 1-0 when Toure left the action after Raheem Sterling rewarded Liverpool for a ferocious start with a sixth-minute opener.

Martin Skrtel doubled the lead from a corner as City proved sluggish early on, but playmaker David Silva sparked a comeback.

Silva pulled one back after 57 minutes and then forced Glen Johnson to turn into his own net.

The Spaniard was then narrowly close to adding a third but Philippe Coutinho pounced on a Vincent Kompany mistake to settle the contest 12 minutes from time.

There was more drama as Skrtel escaped punishment for handball in the area and Liverpool had Jordan Henderson sent off for a late challenge on Samir Nasri. City also had another good penalty appeal against Mamadou Sakho rejected earlier in the game.

Demichelis, 33, said: "We finished the first half playing really well and had some chances to score. We could have scored going into half-time.

"After this we needed to adjust some things. Especially we needed to find a balance between attack and defence.

"When we were attacking, we knew how strong they were in counter-attacks and this is when we had a lot of problems.

"Then their only clear chance came from our mistake.

"I can only complain about how unlucky we were. We should have got a draw at least.

"Unfortunately we couldn't bring a more positive result to our fans, but we can still bring something positive from now until the end."